Young Allies Comics #12

Aug 5

Aug 5 Young Allies Comics #12

The Terror of the Jap Head

The Young Allies are walking home one night when they come across a decapitated body in a dark alley. Checking his credentials, Bucky learns that he is Henry J. Cyrus a local shipbuilder. The boys all recognize that his death is a serious blow on the war effort and spot some suspicious men fleeing down the other end of the alley. As they pursue, they realize that the men they are chasing are Japanese and suspect that they might be enemy spies.

They catch up to Cyrus' killers and attack, but the Allies are soon shocked when their leader arrives: He is called the head, and rightly so, as he is nothing more than a disembodied head on a specially built life support device that flies him about. The Allies are overpowered and are about to be decapitated when Toro quickly rushes at their would-be killer with his flame on, forcing them to flee. As they flee they drop a list of names of their next set of targets. Among the names are Doctor Paul Atwell, General Douglas MacArthur, and Philippine resistance fighter Torin Quezzon. With this list, the Young Allies vow to stop the Head and rush to the aid of the next victim on their list.

This is Dr. Paul Atwell, who has just finished a new experimental drug called Vitamin X that will increase the performance of American soldiers. His is soon confronted by the Head and his minions. When the Young Allies arrive to try and stop them, they fail to prevent the Heads minions from decapitating Atwell and escaping with his severed head. The Head and his men escape in an aircraft, and the Young Allies follow after them in a plane as well to their next destination -- Australia to prevent the assassination of General Thornton.

Arriving at the American base in Australia, the Young Allies manage to sneak into General Thronton's office in an attempt to warn him. No understanding what the Young Allies are talking about, the general is soon called to an outpost where a report has come in that Colonel Hanley was struck by lightning. With no clouds in the sky, the Young Allies suspect a trap and follow after the General. As they suspected, the call is a trap and they once more fail to stop the Head and his men from decapitating Thornton. When the Young Allies try to stop him, he tosses the head of Colonel Hanley at them and then flees the scene with his men. As the Japanese agents escape, they take Jef, Tubby, and Whitewash prisoner.

As Bucky, Toro and Knuckles follow after them in their own plane, the Head pilots his craft to the Philippines where he seeks to get the head of their next target Torin Quezzon. Arriving on the island, the Head has his captives tossed in a prison cell before he goes after his next target. Meanwhile, Bucky and the others meet with the Philippian rebels and learn that Quezzon has been taken prisoner by the Japanese and that they are planning a jail break that night. Bucky, Toro and Knuckles agree to help out hoping that they can save their captured friends in the process as well.

They storm the prison, breaking through the structure thanks to Toro's flame powers but are too late to prevent Quezzon from being decapitated. While the Head and his men escape, Bucky and the others free Jeff, Tubby and Whitewash and chase after him by plane. However, they are soon swarmed by Japanese Zeros and forced to land and surrender to the Head and his minions. The Young Allies are subdued and before being executed the Head explains that he intends to revive the severed heads in much the same fashion his own head is kept alive. With these heads attached to crude bodies, he hopes to force the men to divulge military secrets. He shows them this ability by using a crude mechanical body to bring the head of Quezzon back to life.

Putting Bucky's head on the chopping block, the Head's minions are about to behead him when Toro breaks free using his flame. Freeing the other Young Allies, Bucky then battles the Head, kicking his hover device into a nearby wall shattering it and killing him in the process. Destroying the other severed heads to prevent the Japanese from utilizing their knowledge, the Young Allies flee back to the United States where they are commended once more for protecting their country from its enemies.

Recurring Characters

Young Allies (Bucky, Toro, Knuckles O’Toole, Jeff Vandergill, Tubby Tinkle, Whitewash Jones), Imperial Japan

In Ancient Egypt

Tommy Tyme finds himself once more bored in history class when his teacher catches him on the spot and asks him to tell her why the pyramids were built in ancient Egypt. Facing detention if he does not get the answer right, Tommy uses his magic time clock to travel back in time to 3300 BC to find the answer.

Appearing in ancient Egypt, Tommy confronts a ruler named Phao and asks him why he has his slaves building the pyramids. Thinking the boy to be an insubordinate slave, Phao is about to whip Tommy but the Brooklyn native whips out his sling shot and pelts the Egyptian ruler with a rock.

The slaves pull Tommy away and warn him that Phao is a ruthless ruler who will put him to death if he does not stop. Soon Tommy has himself put to work with the other slaves to finish constructing the pyramids. When they finish the pyramid, Phao informs all the slaves that they are to build another pyramid. Having had enough grueling labor, Tommy fights back knocking Phao off the pyramid and leading the slaves in a revolt against their masters.

During the fight Tommy is grabbed by Phao and dragged inside the pyramid to be killed. There Tommy demands to know what the pyramids are to be made for. Phao explains that it is a crypt to their great king Cheops to rest when he dies. Finally getting the answer he sought, Tommy breaks free and fights off Phao and his men by knocking them into a sarcophagus and trapping them inside.

He then returns to the present to the exact moment in time he had left and is able to answer the question for his teach.

Recurring Characters

Tommy Tyme

Continuity Notes

Tommy Tyme's clock states that Tommy traveled to the year 3300 BC and goes on to identify that he was in Egypt during the time that Cheops was in power. This would not be correct as Cheops actually reigned between the years 2589 to 2566 BC. Further, the earliest record of the Egyptian monarchy is dated back to 3100 BC, 200 years after the date listed on Tommy Tyme's clock. The error can likely be attributed to what little was known about ancient Egypt at the time this comic was originally published.

The Spiked Chariot of Destruction

The Young Allies are waiting at their clubhouse for Jeff to arrive for their meeting. He shocks his fellow Allies when he arrives in a helicopter that his father invented, telling them that his father hopes that every family will have one after the war is over.

Taking a ride in the copter to one of the nearby docks where American battleships await deployment, the Young Allies witness as a Swiss watch recently imported for military use blows up in a commanding officers face, killing him. Realizing that the entire shipment is rigged with explosives, the Allies then dump them into the harbor before they can kill anymore soldier. Finding an engraving among the shrapnel, the Young Allies find a mocking message from a Nazi agent calling himself the Mad Mechanic.

Deciding to track down this new enemy, the Young Allies all board Jeff's helicopter and fly across the Atlantic to the Swiss Alps. There they are spotted by the Mad Mechanic from his secret hideout, who then tries to shoot the heroes out of the sky. Forced to land, the Young Allies begin heading toward the Mad Mechanic's hideout. Spotting the youths approach, the Mad Mechanic and his men trigger an avalanche to kill them. The Allies survive, but find themselves buried alive, but this proves to be a minor issue when Toro melts a way out with his flame.

Reaching the Mad Mechanic's base, the heroes fight through his guards and confront the Mechanic himself. The Mechanic snares the boys with a wire gun and then shows them his plans to use Switzerland as his base of operations to launch various attacks against Allied Forces across Europe. The Mad Mechanic then enters a massive spiked ball device and leaves to begin his mission. The Young Allies break free and take over the Mad Mechanics base. Bucky and Knuckles reclaim their chopper and chase after the massive invention. Boarding the device, the two boys get the drop on the Mad Mechanic knocking him out and then piloting his device off a cliff before bailing out. With their guards down, the two boys are knocked out by the Mad Mechanic who takes them prisoner and uses their own helicopter to return to his base.

His return is spotted by Toro and the others who come to Bucky and Knuckle's rescue. They are held back by an army of robots. While the other Young Allies are occupied, the Mad Mechanic orders one of his machines to rip Bucky and Kunckle's limb from limb while he unleashes an entire army of robots against the European front. The other Allies trash the robots that have attacked them and find that Bucky and Knuckles have managed to free themselves as well and rush after the Mad Mechanic and his mechanical army. Catching up with the Mad Mechanic, they jump him in his jeep. Bucky then grabs the command microphone and orders the robots to attack each other. Horrified by this, the Mad Mechanic rushes into the melee to save his creations and is trampled to death.

With the battle over, the Young Allies return to America where they find Captain America reading a newspaper story of their most recent adventure. Cap congratulates the Allies on a job well done.